Kishi heeded Mrs Kato's advice when he went to the Philippines, Korea, Burma and finally Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald5 wrote editorially, 'We cannot afford the luxury of living in the bitter past... Kishi handled a delicate mission with skilful tact. His ice-breaking tour . . . could hardly have been a pleasant experience. But no one could have gone further in making official amends for the sins of his country.'

The Washington Evening Star commented, 'Premier Kishi is now back in Tokyo after having completed one of the most unusual missions ever undertaken by a statesman of his rank. Over the past three weeks he has visited no fewer than nine nations that Japan occupied or threatened with conquest. . . and in each of these lands he has publicly apologized for his country's actions during the war.'6

On Kishi's return to Tokyo he told the press, 'I have been impressed by the effectiveness of Moral Re-Armament in creating unity between peoples who have been divided. I have myself experienced the power of honest apology in healing the hurts of the past. This idea is most needed at this critical time in our history.'7

Among other issues Kishi also reopened the question of relations with Korea, along lines first suggested at a Moral Re-Armament conference at Baguio in the Philippines in March 1957, and emphasised by Senator Kato in the Foreign Affairs Committee on 30 April. After a second conference in Baguio, during which the Seinendan's play Road to Tomorrow was shown in Manila with much the same effect as The Vanishing Island, Kishi decided to give a reception in his official residence on 12 April 1958 to acknowledge the part Moral Re-Armament had played in helping Japan to regain the respect of other nations. On 10 April one of his brothers died, so he was unable to attend, but he asked the Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Takizo Matsumoto, to speak for him. Matsumoto reviewed the successive steps:

1. In the late 1940s the first Japanese allowed to travel overseas were welcomed at Moral Re-Armament conferences in the United States.

2. The historic 'Mission to the West' in 1950 - the visit to Caux, Europe and the United States - re-established contact with Europeans and enabled Diet Members to address the United States Congress.

3. The good offices of Buchman and his colleagues provided the only means for Japanese delegates to the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951 to meet Asian, American and European delegates personally.

4. The inclusion of Japanese in the World Mission in 1955 was the first occasion for them to visit other Asian countries.

5. Kensuke Horinouchi, as Ambassador to Taiwan, had prevented a serious rupture with the Nationalist Chinese Government, the one close diplomatic ally Japan had in Asia at that time.

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